This research project sets out to examine the content of open-access and traditional introductory, college-level Sociology and Anthropology textbooks published from 2016 to 2021. My research question is: How does publishing type affect content in introductory Sociology and Anthropology textbooks? I chose to focus on college-level textbooks given the rise in higher education costs in the U.S. in recent years (General Accountability Office 2013; Education Data Initiative 2022).
My independent variable is the publishing type of the textbooks, which refers to whether the textbook is open-access or traditional. I define OER textbooks in the scope of this research project as full-course resources that are available free of charge online and available for download and/or redistribution. There are some OER that come in the format of a website and these resources satisfy my definition of an OER textbook as they can be freely accessed on the Internet and can be re-shared publicly. Traditional, or standard, textbooks are defined as the typical print or e-book coursebooks that have dominated classrooms across almost all levels of education. Traditional textbooks, now often available in digital form, tend to be published by big publishers, and are available to students for rental or purchase. For this project, I will only be examining the print versions of these standard textbooks.
My dependent variable is the content of these materials. For the sake of my study, I classify chapter lengths, chapter topics, inclusion and presentation of prominent sub-topics, visuals, commonly used vocabulary and/or phrases, important events, examples, theories, research, glossary, case study, discussion of real-life scenarios, expanded reading/research, and interactive components, such as quizzes, discussion questions, and exercises, as the content that I will be analyzing. Interactive components range from learning objectives, definitions in bold or highlighted, exercises, discussion questions, and call-out boxes to chapter summaries. The analysis will focus on two chapters: the introduction to the discipline and disciplinary research methods.